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.Lancs urnes, JR.,

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riefen e ""e i" J OF WILLIAMSBURG, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE BABRONS PATENT-STEEL MANUFACTURlNG COMPANY.

Leners Patent No. 89,425-, dood Apro 27, 1869.

IMPRO-VED STEEL-SURFACED RA-II-IROADBAR.

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whom it may concern: I Beit known that I, JAMES MYERS, .mts Williams'- burg, Kings county, New York, have invented a new andimproved Railroad-Bar; and I do hereby declare Vthat the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the al1: to make and use the'samc, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, formingpart of this specifica- -ticn i .1- lhe figure is a cros-section of'my improved rail, or railwayban "The nature 'of my invention consists in constructing a `rajLor. railway-bar, such 'as is used for thel track upon which railway-locomotives and cars cre ordina.-V rilymoved, in Suche. manner that the rail, or parts of theseme, shall consist of an interior core, of ordinary :wrought or malleable iron, andan outer envelope, of steel, -forrned from a homogeneous bar of wrought or vnalleable iron, by the conversion of the outer portillfof such bar into steel, by chemical processes. 'ji y"locnable others skilled in the art to-makeand use my-invention, I will proceed to describe its construe.

{tioniand operation, after first setting forth thestategloftheartat the time of the making of 'my invention.

lj gEtlis well known that it-has for a long time been a desideratum in railroadengineerng to obtain a rail which should possess theftoughness or diiiculty of il'iiptilreg which 'is found in' malleable or iwrought-iron, and which at the same time 'should have the hard :and resisting 'wearing-ssrn@ which might be round '-j `The expense of'a railcomposed wholly of steel, has

been a serioussobjeotion to its introduction, while there' inno advantage indiening the merely Suppol'tng'lol".- tions of 'the rail ,composed of a' harder metal than malle' required' only for able iron,lthe steel portions being 'the of. the'rail subjected to wear.

'D0-'remedy h difficulty various devices have been conceived and tried, for'constrncting theraihin such anianner'that the supporting portions should becomposedof wrought or malleable iron, and the wearing.

i dcrthe'prolonged and ixregularfhammering produced v"oy-the wheels of 'railway-trains.'

l Even it' perfect weide shouldbe obtained,l which ap-l tpeers tote-doubtful, the'cost of these rails mustA be nteiinediate'between vthat of the iron rail and the steel rail, a-cost too great'for .adoptedr l i 4 Railroad-bars, of. any desired fom-are placed in a .refractory retort, of vsuitable length, capable of being 'lthroghout oi'i'ibmnyebeseontinucd long as isrequired to'givefthedesired thickness to the naryrailways. l By employing the new processes for converting iron into steel,.s ecured by patents to' ".|.hmas Barron, -ot' January 1, 1867', and to John F. Boynton, dated July 16, 18,67, and reissued December 11,1868, I was abletc convert, with greatand economy, bars of iron, either wholly'intosteefor'ftoioohvert the exterior portions of such bars into stehto yan3 1 dcp`th required, leaving the cores or interior ,-portionsiin the original condition of wrought'i'u' malleable iron.

This led me to conceive thatjby the Yapplication of these orv analogous processes, homogeneous-railway- .their adoption on ordii' bars, of' wrought or-malleable.iron, couldfbe com' verted intosteel 'at their surface, -andto any required.

depth from such'. surface, leaving 'theiinterior of the bar imchanged; and that a rail so produced, .would possess advantages, over all .others before made in cheapness of eonstructiomaud'inthe of separating the 'steel from the-,iron portions, by any mechanical force.4

Having perfectly suceded iu 'this experimenigl willproeeed to describe surrounded by a. ii'ame of heated gas, so that the' con tents ofthe retortY may be brought, when heat is applied, by' any suitable device, to a white heater there abouts."

Gases; soreharged with carbon, by being passed i through o oarbonizing-vessel, arid then enriched` by 'being mixed or combined with the vapors o'f hydrocarbone, or 'gases produced, by any of the' pr. described inthe patents granted to John F. Boynton, dated July 16, 1867, vand reissued December'l, 1868 and to Thomas J. Barron, dated January M1867, 'are introduced intothe retort aforesaid, and passed over z and :around the heated railway-bars, converting the outer portion of such bars into steel, the. conversion proceeding progressively inward, as the process isconllllled'.

, It maybe continued untiLthe bar is conyerted .exterior envelope of steel, the interior portions of the bar remaining unchanged. Althu'gh I am not the exterior portions of the iron mils maybe `converted into steel so cheaply and-ed'ectually as by the process above 'describd,'as the essence'of my invention does not consist in the process, but in the production of a rail of new* construction.

I do not'lin'iit vmyself for the conversion of the exterior portionsl of such rails into steel, to' any particular process, nor to the use of any particular gas, not

the method which-I have .Jusilfsan aware'of any Aby which l Aof the bar into steel may be applied at any stage of the rolling-process to which the --bar is Asubjected, and after the steeling-process, the bar may be subjected to one or more rollings, to give the desired bre to the.

steel.

I do not limit myselfv to any particular vsectional form of rail, and it is obvious that material modification in the formsof rails will be induced by the practical application of the `principle f this invention.

yThe thickness of the steel envelope must begoverned by the requisites demanded for different roads.

Y It is not necessary that the whole exterior'of the rail should j be converted into steel; the bearing por- 'tions ofthe rail, if desired, may be protected by suitable devices from being converted.

of its production, the capacityof applying the steel to theiron, at the points where it will be most eiectual, and the impossibility of separating the steel from the iron portions of the rail by any mechanical means. Hain'n thus described my invention, What claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A rail, or railway-bar, so constructed `thatl or parts of the same shall consist of an interior core, of wrought or malleable iron, and an outer envelope of steel, of any desired thickness, formed from a homogeneous bar of wrought'or malleable iron, through the conversion of theouter portions of such barium steel, by chemical processes, as and for the purpose se *1' forth. i JAMES ,MYERSf i n; Witnesses: l Fm Bnooxnsm, J .ums (1f. GRAHAM.

'. The advantages of this rail are, the great economy l the rails, 

